Blog

Building Trust with Governments and Influencing Policy in the Digital Age

A little while back McKinsey surveyed a group of global corporate execs about which group of stakeholders they thought had the most potential to impact their bottom line.

Turned out governments and regulators were second only to customers.

But not only that, senior execs also said the business value at stake from government intervention is about 30 per cent of earnings for most companies, which climbed up to 50 per cent for the banking sector.

Combine that with any reputational damage that comes from unwanted interference (think the Royal Commission into banking), and you may as well start assembling the Crisis Management team!

So, what can corporates do to build the trust with government that’s required to protect their business from - or at the very least, forewarn them of – potential regulatory speed bumps?

Step 1: Have a well-run and resourced Government Affairs team that’s out there building relationships and keeping their fingers on the political pulse.

Step 2: Empower them with the tools they need to do this.

McKinsey found that “top companies identify important stakeholders up front and work with them using a key account-management-style approach that borrows from best-practice sales organisations”.

For those not in sales, ‘best practice’ these days usually means investing in customer relationship management (CRM) software, like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics.

And yet, the vast majority (91 per cent) of government affairs teams we’ve spoken to over the last few years are using a combination of emails, spreadsheets and notepads. Only 1 in 20 are using a CRM-type software.

However, most alarmingly, almost one in five said they ‘keep it all in their head’, meaning they are relying on little more than their memory to capture insights, track engagement and report on progress to the business.

The impact of this cannot be underestimated; double-booked meetings with Ministers, lost corporate knowledge, and compromised credibility are just a few of the reasons why this approach doesn’t cut the mustard.

A number of large corporates including Uber, IAG and Diageo, that have adopted Advoc8 have enjoyed increased efficiencies, productivity and business continuity thanks to our political database and bespoke campaign management tool.

That being said, advocacy technology is still a nascent industry in Australia; in the not-too-distant future, advocacy professionals will know if a politician supports their cause before even meeting with them, and have access to electoral mapping tools that visually display their company’s precise value-add. And that’s just the beginning.

As the only bespoke advocacy software solution on the market, Advoc8 is looking forward to driving these innovations for corporates in Australia.